Editing Toews, John A. (1912-1979)

''Mennonite Brethren Herald'' obituary: 1979 Feb 16 p. 34

Birth date: 1902 Dec 26

text of obituary:

<center><h3>BERNARD B. WIEBE</h3></center>

John Awn Toews was born August 15,
1912 in the village of Ruckenau, Molotschna
colony, in southern Russia, the third of four
children born to Awn A. and Agnes (nee
Harms) Toews. His father was at the time a
young, promising and aspiring teacher. As
John grew into boyhood and youth, the stable
world of the pre-war Russian Mennonites
was transformed by war, revolution and civil
strife. It was during these years, between
1914 and 1926, that his father found his
vocation as minister and evangelist and
through him John appropriated for himself
the deep faith and core of values and convic
tions which formed the bedrock of his
character and later ministry. His conversion
came in 1924 during intense counselling and
Bible study with his father.
The family's emigration from the steppes
of Russia ended on a small pioneer homestead
near Namaka, Alberta in February, 1927.
The energy with which John attacked, over
came or simply ignored economic hardship
and courtlld thll young woman who was to be
his wife, set up a family and pursued his
education seems quite incredible to a some
what pampered generation. He became ac
quainted with Nettie Willms when both
attended the Coal
dale Bible School
in 1931 and in No
vember, 1935 they
were married. Five
children were born
to them, the first
while they were stu
dents at Tabor Col
lege, in Hillsboro,
Kansas. The de
pression and the
years during World
War II when he served as chaplain to men in
C.O. camps clearly had a decisive impact on
his concept ion of his vocation as a minister,
preacher and teacher. His lifelong emphasis
on the prophetic, critical role of Christian
commitment in the political and social world,
on faith as the foundation of social conscience
and active service, and the connection be
tween these positions and the historical
Anabaptist heritage of the Mennonite Breth
ren Church was already recognizable in him
at the end of the thirties.
In 1940 John accepted a call from the
Coaldale Bible School, which began his
public ministry as teacher, scholar, church
leader and administrator. In 1947 he came to
the Mennonite Brethren Bible College, to
which he gave twenty years, eight as presi
dent. Later he gave three years to the
Fraserview Church of Vancouver as pastor,
taught at Trinity Western College in Langley,
B.C. , wrote The History of the Mennonite
Brethren Church, and once again returned to
the Mennonite Brethren Bible College. During
his very active public ministry, he served on
numerous conference committees, was mo
derator of conferences on provincial, national
as well as the North American level, and
represented Mennonite Brethren on the board
of MCC as well as the Mennonitll World
Conference presidium. He had degrees from
several universities, including a doctorate
from the University of Minnesota. His
spiritual development and personal growth
never ended. During the last decade of his
life, he was clearly aware that he was
entering a new phase of his life, not denying
his past but completing it and transcending
it. His growing sense of the secondary
importance of doctrinal and denominational
differences and his concentration on the
unity in Christian love reflected this shift in
emphasis. The man who insisted that the
Christian faith always implies a commitment
to spiritual and moral values which can
never be compromised did not really disap
pear. Rather he more and more emphasized
that those commitments which we can't
compromise are precisely the ones which
bind us together in a community of under
standing and love. In I Corinthians 13 he
found encapsulated the truth which above all
he wanted his children, his friends , his
colleagues and students to remember, to
possess and to live. He went to be with his
Lord on January 13, 1979, in Winnipeg.
He leaves to mourn his sudden departure
his wife, Nettie; his children, Elfrieda (Mrs.
Wayne) Nafziger of Manhattan, Kan., Wilma
(Mrs. Barry) Kennedy of Vancouver, John
and Eleanor of New York, David and Kathy
of Grande Prairie, Alta., and Irene (M rs.
'Bill) Maier of Kelowna , B.C .; eight grand
children; two sisters; and many who cherish
his memory. His interment was in Abbots
ford, B .C. on January 18.

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